Diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Ukraine are at a low point after President Donald Trump called Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator” on social media.
Zelenskyy has expressed frustration with Trump in recent days over his handling of peace talks with Russia.
In his latest post on Truth Social, Trump said Zelenskyy is “a modestly successful comedian” and “a dictator without elections,” while taking the credit for launching negotiations with Russia. He claimed Zelenskyy mismanaged billions in funding and was not working to find a path to peace.
And according to Zelenskyy, who responded in a press conference, Trump is “living in a disinformation space” created by Russia.
After Trump assumed the presidency there was a shift in U.S. foreign policy, reflecting Trump’s “America First” agenda.
“I love Ukraine,” Trump said in the social media post, “but Zelensky has done a terrible job, his country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died.”
The Trump administration has accused Europe of taking a secondary role as the U.S. has spent billions of dollars helping Ukraine in its war against Russia. Meanwhile, European leaders say negotiations and a long-lasting peace agreement cannot be achieved without Ukraine.
This back and forth comes after Ukraine didn’t receive an invitation for a face-to-face meeting between American and Russian officials to negotiate a ceasefire in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin also spoke on the phone last week, marking the first conversation between the two countries’ leaders since the beginning of the war in Ukraine three years ago. Again, Zelenskyy was informed of what was discussed after the fact.
Russia and Ukraine still at war
The message from Kyiv remains consistent: “Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.”
Trump acknowledged pushback from Ukraine. “I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat, well, they’ve had a seat for three years and a long time before that. This could have been settled very easily,” the president told BBC.
Putin expressed the same sentiments, alleging Ukraine refused to come to the table before, and denied sidelining Kyiv.
The Trump administration already indicated its willingness to back Russia’s claim on occupied territories within Ukraine. It also rejected the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO. As for the security guarantees requested by Kyiv, U.S. officials are urging Europe to coalesce and fund peacekeeper troops instead of depending on U.S. aid.
National security adviser Mike Waltz admitted Trump and Zelenskyy’s relationship is strained.
“But what President Trump is focused on is ending the fighting, going to a ceasefire, and having a broader agreement,” Waltz said in an interview with Fox News.
“Not everyone has gotten the message that the era of an endless grinding war, with death and destruction on all sides, costing hundreds of billions and costing hundreds of thousands, if not millions of lives, that era is over,” Waltz said.
“President Trump has been very clear he intends to bring this war to an end,” he went on. “All sides need to be bought into that.”
President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump Tower, on Sept. 27, 2024, in New York. | Julia Demaree Nikhinson
Ukraine president’s attempts to stay neutral
This isn’t the first time Trump blamed Zelenskyy for starting the war in Russia and for failing to end the conflict, despite Russia starting the war.
Despite Zelenksyy’s attempts to not get sucked into the hyperpartisan world of American politics, he has found himself in the crossfire before.
In 2019, Trump was impeached for asking Kyiv to investigate his political rival, then the former-Vice President Joe Biden, who was the Democratic nominee in the 2020 presidential election, and his family’s business ties in Ukraine. Trump did so by withholding $400 million in military aid for Ukraine.
Biden’s son Hunter Biden worked for Ukrainian gas company Burisma, and in 2024 it came out that he asked a U.S. government official in Italy to help with a business deal on behalf of the company while his father was vice president.
During Trump’s impeachment trial, Zelenskyy said he wasn’t pressured by Trump to open an investigation, and learned about the block on aid later on. But he told the story differently once Trump was out of office.
“They roped us in,” Zelenskyy told The New York Times in 2021, after Biden took office. “But I think we behaved with dignity suitable to a sovereign country.”
According to Zelenskyy, Biden understood Ukraine better than his predecessors, thanks to his stint working to end the conflict in Eastern Ukraine during his years as vice president under former President Barack Obama.
Ukraine president Zelenskyy and Trump administration 2.0
Vice President JD Vance backed Trump’s assertions about the conflict in Ukraine on Wednesday and offered Zelenskyy some advice to find his footing with Trump.
“The idea that Zelenskyy is going to change the president’s mind by badmouthing him in public media. Everyone who knows the president will tell you that is an atrocious way to deal with this administration,” Vance told DailyMail. “Donald Trump is well-versed in geopolitics and has held a strong stance on the matter for a long time,” he said.
Vance suggested that where the Biden administration was too easygoing with Ukraine, the Trump White House wanted a swift end to the conflict.
“We obviously love the Ukrainian people. We admire the bravery of the soldiers, but we obviously think that this war needs to come to a rapid close,” Vance added.
French and U.K. leaders to visit Washington, D.C.
There’s plenty of chatter among American allies across the pond about Trump’s statements. Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson advised others to take Trump seriously, not literally.
“Trump’s statements are not intended to be historically accurate but to shock Europeans into action,” he said in a post on X. He has defended Ukraine since the start of the war in February 2022.
As Johnson said, Europe is scrambling to take action. First, French President Emmanuel Macron held an emergency meeting in France with other European leaders at the same time that Russian and American officials met in the Middle East. And next week, Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are set to visit Washington, D.C.
In a post on X, Macron said he had a lengthy conversation with members of the European Union, Canada, Iceland and Norway, where they agreed they want long-lasting peace in Ukraine, but attached a few caveats. Ukraine should be involved in the talks, the peace deal should have credible guarantees and the security concerns expressed by Europe should be taken into account, Macron stated.
The Trump administration welcomed the visit and Europe’s willingness to participate in the negotiations.
“I just got off the phone with my counterparts from the United Kingdom, from France, from Germany and said, ‘Look, we welcome Europe stepping in and offering security guarantees. We welcome Europe. We’ve been asking for years for Europe to step up and contribute more to not only their own defense but Ukraine’s defense,‘” Waltz said on “America Reports” on Fox.
